Court allows Pachauri to travel abroad

New Delhi: TERI Director General R K Pachauri, facing sexual harassment allegations, was today allowed by a Delhi court to travel to several places abroad, including Paris, from tomorrow to attend meetings and conferences.

TERI Director General R K Pachauri

Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan allowed Pachauri’s plea in which he has sought permission to go to La Paz in Bolivia, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and the French capital starting tomorrow.

“The accused (Pachauri) is permitted to travel, as per his itinerary as stated above, subject to furnishing of one local surety of Rs four lakh to the satisfaction of this court and upon furnishing an undertaking that he will make himself available to the investigating officer as per her requirement upon service of notice on him by the IO,” the court said.

During the hearing, Pachauri’s advocate Ashish Dixit told the court that his client has been invited to attend a meeting in La Paz from November 26-27 for which he would take a flight tomorrow.

Pachauri, he said, would return on November 30 and then proceed to to attend a workshop in Riyadh at Saudi Arabia on December 2.

Pachauri has also been invited to attend various conferences at Paris from December 4-9 and he would return on December 10, the counsel said.

The police opposed his plea on the ground that Pachauri had failed to give satisfactory answers but the investigation officer (IO) affirmed that he had joined investigation.

His counsel said that Pachauri has fully cooperated in the probe and would make himself available as and when required by the IO.

In its order, the court noted that Pachauri has cooperated in the probe.

On February 13, an FIR was registered against Pachauri on charges of sexual harassment under IPC sections 354, 354(a), 354(d) (molestation) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Pachauri has also stepped down from United Nations’ IPCC and Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.